Genetic Variations of Cold Hardiness within Iranian Ornamental Pomegranates

Some pomegranates such as Punica granatum var. pleniflora are used as ornamental plants in landscape. Ornamental pomegranate has an unusually high petals number and produce attractive large flowers. Frost injury is a major limiting factors for spreading of ornamental pomegranate in different climatic conditions. This study was carried out to determine the cold hardiness of seven ornamental pomegranate genotypes (‘Koshe Nar Baharestan Sari’, ‘Shahdad Kerman’, ‘Sarvestan Fars’, ‘Zinati Saveh’, ‘Rijab Kermanshah’, ‘Kenar Takht Fars’, and ‘Daneshkade Keshavarzi Shiraz’). One-year old stem cuttings from mature trees were used for cold hardiness measurement during deep dormancy (January, 2014). Freezing hardiness were evaluated using electrolyte leakage method. Results showed that range of variation in cold hardiness among genotypes varied from -17.65 to -24.03 °C and genotypes could be divided into three main group as follow: ‘Daneshkade Keshavarzi Shiraz’ as the most freezing tolerant genotype (-24.03 °C), ‘Rijab Kermanshah’ as the most freezing susceptible genotype (-17.65 °C) and the rest of them as genotypes with intermediate freezing tolerance including ‘Zinati Saveh’ (-21.27 °C), ‘Koshe Nar Baharestan Sari’ (-21.8 °C), ‘Shahdad Kerman’ (-19.7 °C), ‘Kenar Takht Fars’ (-19.52 °C) and ‘Sarvestan Fars’ (-19.07 °C). In general, the potential cold hardiness variation in ornamental pomegranates will facilitate the cultivation of this valuable ornamental tree in relatively cold region. Among them ‘Daneshkade Keshavarzi Shiraz’ genotype is the most suitable genotype for cultivation in cold regions.

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